Luke 7:36-39

The Offence.

We are still in that epoch of transition, when the rupture between our Lord and the Pharisees, although already far advanced, was not complete. A member of this party could still invite Him without difficulty. It has been supposed that this invitation was given with a hostile intention. But this Pharisee's own reflection, Luke 7:39, shows his moral state. He was hesitating between the holy impression which Jesus made upon him, and the antipathy which his caste felt against Him. Jesus speaks to him in a tone so friendly and familiar, that it is difficult to suppose him animated by malevolent feelings. Further, Luke 7:42 proves unanswerably that he had received some spiritual benefit from Jesus, and that he felt a certain amount of gratitude towards Him; and Luke 7:47 says expressly that he loved Jesus, although feebly.

The entrance of the woman that was a sinner into such society was an act of great courage, for she might expect to be ignominiously sent away. The power of a gratitude that knew no bounds for a priceless benefit which she had received from the Saviour can alone explain her conduct. Luke 7:42 shows what this benefit was. It was the pardon of her numerous and fearful sins. Was it on hearing Him preach, or in a private interview, or through one of those looks of Jesus which for broken hearts were like a ray from heaven...? She had received from Him the joy of salvation; and the perfume which she brought with her was the emblem of her ardent gratitude for this unspeakable gift. If we adopt the Alex. reading, the sense is: “A woman who was a sinner in that city,” that is to say, who practised in that very city her shameful profession. The received reading: “There was in the city a woman that was a sinner,” is less harsh. ῾Αμαρτωλός, a sinner, in the same superlative sense in which the Jews thought they might apply this epithet to the Gentiles (Galatians 2:15). Μύρον denotes any kind of odoriferous vegetable essence, particularly that of the myrtle.

As it was the custom when at table to recline upon a couch, the feet being directed backwards, and without their sandals, there was nothing to prevent this woman from coming up to Jesus and anointing His feet. But just when she was preparing to pay Him this homage, she burst into tears at remembrance of her faults. Her tears streamed down upon the Saviour's feet, and having no cloth to wipe them, she promptly loosed her hair, and with that supplied its place. In order to duly appreciate this act, we must remember that among the Jews it was one of the greatest humiliations for a woman to be seen in public with her hair down.

The τίς, who (Luke 7:39), refers to the name and family, and the ποταπή, what, to the character and conduct.